Kathy McCollum's Moms for Liberty Ally Ousted from MSBSD Book-Banning Committee
Kali Ponder, a co-founder and current secretary of the extremist organization Moms for Liberty's Mat-Su chapter, has been removed from her seat on the school district's Library Citizens Advisory Committee. Ponder's ousting curiously follows a September exposé detailing that Parental Rights advocate and book-banning extremist school board member, Kathy McCollum, had handpicked Ponder to serve on the advisory committee and then sought Moms for Liberty's endorsement for her school board re-election campaign.
At this month's October 4th school board meeting, the Board made only a vague mention of why they were removing McCollum's handpicked Moms for Liberty ally from the book-banning committee, appearing to suggest that "this individual," presumably Ponder, had never actually come before the Board for approval. It's a little difficult to follow, but the clip is below.
More than two weeks later, long after the Board had no-named a replacement, Ponder's name was replaced on the district's website with the name of Kim Swanson, who just so happens to be a...wait for it...registered Alaska Republican. 🥴
Swanson donated $200.00 to Kathy McCollum's school board re-election campaign (because of course she did) as well as to the Valley Republican Women of Alaska which has also donated to McCollum.
I should probably point out that although McCollum sought Moms for Liberty Mat-Su's endorsement, the far-right organization has only publicly endorsed Ole Larson at this point. But that hasn't stopped the Valley Karens from turning McCollum into their Facebook heartthrob.
Seriously, who knew local politics could be this entertaining?
Moms for Liberty is a far-right hate group whose supporters often use the derogatory term "groomers" in reference to education professionals, baselessly vilifying them forever in internet search engines as child abusers and pedophiles. Members terrorize school boards and work to cleanse books that address LGBTQ themes, sexual education, and racial issues from school libraries. They've enacted a state legislative advocacy infrastructure in Arkansas, Florida, Iowa, Indiana, Kentucky, Montana, and South and North Dakota that the Republican-backed organization is now using to pass anti-LGBTQ legislation.
Anyway, it looks like the school board replaced one McCollum ally on the book-banning committee with another...so, let the book-banning recommendations commence cuz, you know, save the children and stuffz.
